Wet Nest

[JoeD]

Hi: I was reading a recent post about nest becoming wet because
water was coming up through the bottom drain holes. So I took a clean troyer horizontal nest gourd: sealed the top of the gourd where the rod fits thought the gourd to hold it in place and taped the joint where the tunnel fits on the gourd. I then place a double folded paper towel inside the gourd and pressed the paper towel down over the drain holes. I then ran some water down over the top of the gourd in order to simulate a rain event. The gourd was held upright and in the air the entire time. In a few minutes the napkin was completely soaked. I have always wondered why the nest in these gourds are so wet. You may want to try this experiment so you can get a real feel for how the nest in these gourds get so wet.
Joe

[taxidermy lady]

That's interesting. I think it should be done with pine needles to see what they do! Just a thought! Good luck!

[Ed Pace]

I don't have any Troy gourds to look at but if the holes are anywhere above the very bottom of the gourd I can understand that happening. I am inclined to think like Sharon, Pineneedles would be very much less absorbent than other types of nesting materials, especially
paper towels.

That is a really good experiment Joe, a lot to be learned by using many different kinds of nice materials ., thanks for posting .

[JoeD]

Ed, I used the paper napkins to see if the water came up through the holes. I use pine straw for nest material, but even that gets matted down as the season progresses and can get wet.

[Ed Svetich-WI]

I have been following this thread with some interest. I have 24 Super and Excluder Gourds. I have had a few this year with noticable water under the nests. I attributed this to several driving rainstorms. What I discovered was that the white pine needles above the water were completely dry. I do put a bit more nesting material in the gourds when constructing the nests initially and during nest replacements. It may be that a thicker nest base keeps the nest drier. The pine needles do not wick water as they have less of a tendency to mat down as a thinner nest mat may do. Just my observation. Good useful discussion.

What if the drain holes were drilled out a bit? Would there be less of a tendency to wick water thru capillary action?

Is this an issue with all gourds or just horizontal gourds?

Ed

[JoeD]

Ed: Super gourds and extruder gourds require a bit more depth to the nest as they are deeper than the Troyer vertical and horizontal gourds. The Troyer vertical requires much less depth to the nest buildup, maybe and inch or so. It is amazing just how much water will wrap around these gourds and be absorded up through the drain holes at the bottom. Just try the test at the beginning of the thread. I have all four gourds types as mentioned at my colony and I see no strong preference by the martins for any particular gourd. I prefer the Troyer gourds as they are the right size and weigh less then the others. I tried a bead of caulk at the bottom of the gourd around the drain holes in hopes of creating a "drip line" but that did not work. I will keep trying. There must some way to keep these gourds completely dry, they should not get wet!

[pmartinlover2]

Do you think the S & K Bo11 would get wet since it has a liner on the inside? OR would it just draw up inside the second liner too? Nothing is as it seems! They are drainage holes to let water out,,, not in! Amazing!
_____
Jody

[JoeD]

Pmaratinlover2, I believe the Bo Gourd offers some protection because of the liner. Most of the rain water will not come up through the drain holes unless it can be absorbed: that means the nesting material has to lie directly against the drain hole. Pine straw is your best bet as set forth many times on this forum. I use the coarser pine straw for the bottom layer for drainage and add the finer white pine straw on top which is a little easier or their bellies. We had such a wet spring here I lost many birds to damp nest.

[taxidermy lady]

I was thinking maybe with the traction tape that I have at the bottom inside of my gourds keep them dry. (Thanks to John Miller). I have 6 different gourd types. I don't have martins but I have checked after rain and they seemed dry to me. I prenest with white pine needles and oak leaves. I have the pvc on top through the hanging holes. I was very happy with the results. Good luck!

[blanchar40]

Ed, I used the paper napkins to see if the water came up through the holes. I use pine straw for nest material, but even that gets matted down as the season progresses and can get wet.

Joe: My name is ross blanchard - I made the origanal posting about this subject over on the Purple Martin.org Facebook page. I have tried to post about this subject on this forum since 2011. I limit my post's here because the people can get very nasty. I have a large article w/pics on solutions on facebook. My gourds stay dry & mite free. Even the Troyer Horizontals. If you have an EMAIL address I can EMAIL the whole package w/pics. Or you can call me at 334-774-0358. I am going to make my gourds even better next year because of testing this year.

[blanchar40]

Tried to post some pics but they wouldn't take